Washed Away
by Red Tigress
Summary: Oneshot. Lindsey must act fast to save a fellow CSI's life. LindseyDanny friendship, with some Sheldon in there for good measure.


A/N: Thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed my last story. I'm glad you all enjoyed it. It became my most popular one on Victory sign I hope to make this one as good or better than my last one. It's just a plot bunny I've had hopping around for a while, but it's a nice distraction from the monotony of school work. Danny-whumping comes without saying, of course. wink And as for the premiere of the show, I won't even talk about Mac's relationship. Or that detective woman who looks suspiciously like Aiden. Not even gonna mention it. Anywho, hope you all enjoy, and please review if you see fit!

Disclaimer: I own no CSI: NY character, yadda yadda, and am writing this for purely non-profitable reasons.

CSI: NY

Thunder rolled lazily overhead as the police drifted around the crime scene. A steady, yet light rain fell on New York, coating the city in a grey haze, making the crime scene seem even more depressing than usual. A body had been found underneath some old docks by the East River. CSI had been called in when it was determined that the victim's COD was multiple gun shots to the head.

Danny Messer ducked under the crime scene tape tied between a pole and a patrol car. He rubbed his nose tiredly after seeing Sheldon Hawkes and Lindsey Monroe already there. He had just finished working a high profile case the day before, and sleep still hadn't caught up to him. "Hey Hawkes, Montana." He greeted.

Lindsey looked up from her examination of the body. "Hi Danny," she smiled. Despite his new found hate for cold, rainy mornings, he smiled back. He couldn't help himself, her grin was contagious.

"Hey Danny." Hawkes said as he continued to snap pictures. "Glad to see you could join us."

Danny snorted. "Yeah, well, some of us need sleep instead of pursuing freaky hobbies." He retorted.

Sheldon feigned shock. "Are you saying I'm some kind of insomniac who studies weird medical anomalies in my spare time in order to freak out my colleagues?" he asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying you are, Hawkes."

Lindsey smiled at their mock banter.

"So what have we got left to do?" Danny asked snapping on his gloves.

"Well," Lindsey said, "Sheldon and I are almost done examining the body, but one of the shots was a through and through. Could you go down to the end of the dock there and see if you can't find the bullet?"

"Sure," Danny said without complaint, despite the rain pouring heavily onto the end of the dock and it being significantly wetter at the other end.

"Be careful, it's a bit unsteady towards the end," Lindsey called out after him. Danny could see what she meant.

The dock was structured so that there was a top layer and about six feet under that a bottom layer, where the body had been found. The rain was causing the water of the East River to lap up against the lower level heavily, which was only about two feet above the surface. Danny didn't feel totally secure about the wobbly, groaning planks under him, but he didn't feel he was in any danger, either. "Yo, Montana, if I fall in, it's your fault!" he called back towards the other CSIs.

Lindsey looked up from her work. "How is it my fault if you're stupid enough to run off the edge of an eight foot wide plank?" she called back. Sheldon couldn't hold back a snicker, and heard Danny's voice from the other end of the dock.

"I heard that Hawkes, don't let me catch you taken her side!"

"Can't help it if she's right!" Sheldon replied.

Danny chuckled quietly to himself. He began to scan around for any sign of the bullet. The rotting wood that made up the dock under his feet groaned menacingly with each step. He began to ignore them after a while, even though they would sink down a bit when he stepped on them.

His search took him to the end of the dock, where he noticed something red out of the corner of his eye. He turned to find the last dock support, with a bloody chip in it, presumably from the through and through. He put down his kit to take out a swab. As he did he looked towards the end of the dock, where most of the boards had fallen off and was no longer accessible. All that was left was a skeleton of supports, but he noticed something stuck between one of the left over supports that had held the walkway in place and another support sticking out of the water.

He looked back towards where the other two CSIs were working. Sheldon was still investigating, but Lindsey seemed to be finishing up. "Hey Montana, come help me out for a sec!" he called.

She walked over. "What is it?" she asked.

Danny grinned. "I think I found our murder weapon." He said, cheekily. She looked to where he was pointing, and saw the gun wedged in between the beams.

"Ok, now how are you going to get?" she asked.

"Easy," he said, starting to grin again. "I'll just do a little balancing act, hop on over, and toss it to you."

Lindsey looked shocked. "First off, Danny Messer, you are no gymnast. Second of all, you are not tossing what could quite possibly be a loaded gun anywhere near me!" She crossed her arms to keep her wind breaker from rustling in the breeze.

"That's ok, Montana. You can just be there in case," he pursed his lips, looked up, and shrugged. "I dunno, something happens." He finished lamely.

"Why, are you expecting something to?"

Danny grinned mischievously, and put his foot out on the beam. It groaned under his wait. Danny looked back at Lindsey who had an _I can't believe you are doing this_ look on her face. Danny moved his other foot off the solidity of the plank behind him, and spread his arms quickly to maintain his balance. His jacket rippled in the wind and rain as he took slow and somewhat unsteady steps forward.

After about eight feet of shuffling along, he finally got close enough where he felt he could reach the weapon. He slowly leaned down to pick up the gun. He breathed a sign of relief when his fingers wrapped around the barrel and he slowly lifted it up.

He stood up and was just about to turn around when a sharp crack filled the air. He looked in Lindsey's direction, fear on his face, before the beams he was standing on fell into the river, taking Danny along for the ride.

CSI: NY

Sheldon heard the crack in the air and looked up sharply. He was just in time to see the end of the dock fall away and about three feet of area where he had seen Lindsey standing only moments ago.

He dropped his equipment and ran to the edge of the dock that was still remaining. He didn't see either of the two CSIs past the churning, grey surface of the water. "Danny! Lindsey!"

A few feet away a head broke the surface of the water. Lindsey took gasping breaths.

"Lindsey, are you ok? Where's Danny?" Sheldon called to her.

She looked around hurriedly. "Call an ambulance!" she said, and dove back under.

Sheldon ran to get the other officers and to call a bus, hoping they wouldn't need it.

CSI: NY

When Danny hit the water the cold took his breath away. He dropped the gun that was in his hand and used his arms to try and swim to the surface. Beams sank around him, and he couldn't move in time to stop one from hitting his chest and pushing him down more, spinning him in the process. In the murky water he could no longer tell which way was up.

By this time, he was running out of air, and his movements were becoming more frantic and less functional. As he was kicking, a sharp, shooting pain went through his right calf, making him try to suck in air. Of course, he inhaled a lungful of water, and started to choke, his vision starting to turn grey around the edges. His movements became weaker, and he gradually stopped struggling as blackness took him.

CSI: NY

As Lindsey dove under, she hoped to she would be able to find Danny through the murky water. There were wooden beams around her, some floating, some sinking with a crushing force that would have hit her if she had not been a good swimmer. Her eyes scanned frantically, looking for her friend.

A few yards in front of her, she saw a shape that didn't look like a piece of wood. It was Danny. He wasn't moving and there was a red mist clouding the water around the lower half of his body. Lindsey quickly swam the rest of the way and wrapped one of her arms around his torso. Using the other arm together with her legs, she swam upwards.

She broke the surface, inhaling a huge breath of air. She wrapped her other arm under Danny's and leaned his head back on her shoulder, doing whip kicks back towards the dock, where she could see Sheldon and some other officers waiting. She looked back at Danny. His eyes were closed, but as soon as they broke the surface, he had started coughing violently.

She finished swimming the rest of the distance to the dock, and Sheldon and one other officer reached down to take Danny's arms and haul him up. "Let's move him to solid ground, it's not stable here," said Sheldon. They moved back towards the shore, while another officer helped Lindsey out of the water and did the same thing.

Back on the shore, Sheldon and the other officer had laid Danny on the ground and Sheldon was going over his vitals waiting for the paramedics to arrive. He was breathing shallowly, and his lips were turning blue, in addition to his shivering. There was also a large, jagged hole in his leg which was bleeding badly.

Lindsey came to stand near the group, looking desperately over the situation. Sheldon started to take off Danny's jacket, and in turn covered him with his own, dry one. In turn, the officer that had assisted Lindsey took off his jacket. "You can wear mine until the paramedics arrive," he told her.

She smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks," she said, before wrapping it around herself and quickly turning back to Danny.

"Danny, can you hear me?" Sheldon asked, taking someone's offered shirt to use to stop the bleeding in his leg.

Danny cracked his eyes open, and looked at Hawkes. "C…cold," he chattered.

Sheldon breathed a small sigh of relief. At least he was oriented enough to tell him that much. "I know, Danny, but just hang in there. The paramedics will be here any minute and they'll get you ward and patched up soon, ok?" Sheldon wasn't expecting a response. Danny turned his head away, still shivering violently. He then turned his head back quickly and Sheldon could see a pleading look in his eyes.

"G…gonna…be…" Sheldon knew immediately what was happening, and turned Danny on his side, facing away from the doctor. Danny heaved, and mostly water came out. When he was done, Sheldon helped turn him so he was lying on his back again. As he did so, he could hear sirens in the distance. Danny was too exhausted to shiver anymore he noticed.

"Just hang on Danny, hang on," Sheldon said as the paramedics ran over and began administering care to Danny. Sheldon stepped back to let them do their job, even though he desperately wanted to be taking care of his friend himself. He turned to Lindsey. She was still staring at Danny with a desperate look on her face. "Lindsey?" he asked. She looked up at him. "Are you ok?"

She stared blankly at him for a moment. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." Her attention returned to her friend, being gently moved to a gurney by the paramedics. "Is he…"

Sheldon put his hand on her shoulder. "I think he'll be fine. Just needs some recovery time."

"There was so much blood in the water…" she whispered. Sheldon hugged her close as much for comfort as to keep her warm.

"It's ok. You were great. You saved his life," he told her. "Come on, let's ride with him. You need attention too," he said, bringing her over. He asked an officer to stay at the scene so he could call Mac and tell him what happened and that they'd need someone to take over for them.

CSI: NY

Danny was cold. And exhausted. And he couldn't think. His brain felt like it was filled with cotton. The only thing that got through to his brain was pain. Between the dull throb in his chest, the sharp spikes shooting up through his leg and the vice-like chill that gripped his body, he couldn't comprehend much else. _Danny._ What was that? _Danny, hang on. We're almost there._ Someone…was speaking to him. Sheldon? With tremendous effort he cracked an eye open. He saw a blurry, but familiar face above him. Assured, he slowly shut his eyes again, and let blackness take him, knowing subconsciously he was safe.

CSI: NY

Sheldon waited with Lindsey in the hospital. Lindsey had been checked out and deemed to be in good health, and was given some dry scrubs and blankets to warm her up until she could go home. Of course, she didn't want to go home anytime soon without seeing Danny first. The doctor had come earlier to tell them he was being treated for hypothermia. In addition he also had a puncture wound in his leg from where an object had gone through his calf and exited the same way. It had required some minor surgery and stitches, and he would probably be on crutches for a few days, and no heavy exercising for a while after that. Sheldon and Lindsey were just thankful the doctor told them he was going to be fine, if allowed ample time for recovery.

"Dr. Hawkes? Detective Monroe?" Sheldon and Lindsey turned to the nurse who had approached them. "He's awake. Would you like to see him?" They nodded, and followed her to a room nearby.

Danny was covered in blankets, his eyes cracked open. "Hey," he whispered when he saw them.

"Hey, yourself," Lindsey said smiling. "How are you feeling?"

"Been better," Danny sighed.

"The doctor says you're going to be fine, Danny." Sheldon said. "You really had us scared, man."

"Lucky Montana…was there, case…somethin happened…" he said slowly.

Lindsey laughed quietly. "It always does with you, doesn't it?" she said.

Danny smiled. Sheldon patted his arm. "We'll leave you alone now, so you can get some rest. You look like you need it." Danny and Lindsey turned to leave.

"Lindsey?" Danny said when they had reached the door.

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"Thanks…for savin me…"

She smiled again. "Anytime, Danny, anytime."

FIN

Uh, sorry the ending was so fluffy, but maybe people like that, I'm not sure. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review, it would make my day! Take care everyone!

-Red Tigress


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